Star Wars Week

We asked 1,200+ Star Wars fans about Snoke's origins. Here's what they said.

1,200 Inverse readers share their best guesses about the Supreme Leader's true identity.

The Skywalker Saga may be over, but the nine-movie epic left plenty of unanswered questions. Some of the biggest of the bunch are those surrounding Snoke, the villain of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi who got precious little character development. He was there, he was evil, he was killed, then clones of him were floating in a tank in Palpatine's Exegol lair.

So we've turned to science (kinda) for a more definitive answer. Inverse polled more than 1,200 of our Star Wars-loving readers on their best Snoke theories. Below you can find the four most popular answers — and a few curveballs that may not be canon but provide some food for thought. (Click here to check out the full results from our epic Palpatine poll.)

Welcome to Star Wars Week! To celebrate the 15-year anniversary of Revenge of the Sith (May 19) and the 40-year anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back (May 21), we're talking about our favorite sci-fi franchise for nine days straight.

4. Snoke is a clone of Tarkin

Lucasfilm

More than 100 people believe Snoke is a clone of Grand Moff Tarkin, the menacing Empire commander played by the inimitable Peter Cushing all the way back in A New Hope. The evidence for this is more circumstantial than canonical since Tarkin was definitely not Force-sensitive. The crux of this theory is the sheer resemblance: those pronounced cheekbones are undeniably similar, along with the idea that Palps might want to resurrect one of his loyal subjects to rule the First Order.

The other selling point is that Tarkin was recreated using CGI for Rogue One, so seemingly Lucasfilm has a model of Tarkin that could have been altered to create Snoke.

3. Snoke is a clone of Darth Plagueis

Lucasfilm

It's common knowledge at this point. Everyone has heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Or at least has heard Palpatine ask Anakin if he's heard it. But who was Darth Plagueis beyond the memes?

Darth Plagueis was Palpatine's (or rather, Darth Sidious's) master. As Sith are wont to do, Palpatine slayed his own master, but it's very possible he had genetic material left over to clone or had already cloned ole' Plagues ahead of time as a precaution.; "unnatural abilities," etc.

It seems pretty believable that Sheev, knowing the secrets of cloning from his late master, decided to pick up where he left off and therefore created Snoke. It might sound weird, but 260 of you agreed.

2. Snoke is a clone of a random Dark side guy

Lucasfilm

The second most popular theory with over 360 votes is one that's very centered on the facts. What do we know about Snoke? We know he is a clone, thanks to the Exegol reveal in The Rise of Skywalker. He's also Force-sensitive. Lastly, we know he's a powerful Force user. Therefore, he must be a clone of a Force-sensitive Sith lord of some sort.

What sort? Well, it could simply just be someone we haven't seen before. He could just be a random Sith character that we just don't have any background on, and that's okay.

1. Snoke is a clone of Palpatine

Lucasfilm

Almost 400 readers believe Snoke is a clone of Palpatine himself. This does make quite a bit of sense, especially considering the Palps we see in Rise of Skywalker is himself a clone. Plus, if you're going to make a puppet leader, why not make one based on yourself?

As that old saying goes: if you want a job done right, do it yourself or make a clone of yourself to do it.

Besides, Palpatine said he was all the Sith. Considering how there were still Snokes on Exegol, perhaps they were versions of himself. After all, it was a failed clone that resulted in Rey. Why couldn't there be more?

Other Snoke theories

There were a couple of suggestions that weren't widespread, but still interesting. A handful of respondents argued Snoke was a clone created by a species native to the Outer Rim. This wouldn't explain the Force sensitivity, but perhaps there was something in the cloning technology that would allow Palpatine to splice in his own genes.

Another reader mentioned Snoke could be a clone of Count Dooku, the much-missed prequels Sith Lord who had his head snipped off by a dual-saber wielding Anakin. That plan was masterminded by Palpatine, so it wouldn't be the first time Palpatine used Dooku as a pawn for his own agenda.

While there's no telling who Snoke could be, one reader had a response that we can all but definitely rule out: Snoke is definitely not Jar Jar Binks, right?

Check out the full results:

Inverse

Welcome to Star Wars Week! To celebrate the 15-year anniversary of Revenge of the Sith (May 19) and the 40-year anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back (May 21), we're talking about our favorite sci-fi franchise for nine days straight.

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